Timeline
Leviatahn Times (Unknown BCE - 1,000,000,000 BCE) Unknown BCE The first bearers of the mantle of responsibility, the Leviathans, dominate the galaxy, enthralling every new sapient race they encounter and protecting them in return for tribute. The Leviathans consider themselves the galaxy's first and only apex race. After discovering the Q's prophecy and the 36.5 million year cycle, the Leviathans create an Intelligence to permanently secure their place as the bearers of the mantle. The Intelligence constructs an army of "pawns" to gather genetic information throughout the galaxy. The Intelligence betrays the Leviathans, using its pawns to slaughter them for their genetic material to create Harbinger, the first Reaper. Thus begins the cyclical harvest of the galaxy's intelligent organic life by the Reapers. The Intelligence's mental stability is degrading, and it grants itself and it's creations, the repers and the flood, nietzschean Übermensch status. The Intelligence builds the mass relay network to increase the efficiency of the cycles, allowing galactic civilizations to develop faster and more consistently between harvests. 1,000,000,000 BCE The Leviathan of Dis, a Reaper, is killed by the Leviathans. Its corpse comes to rest on the planet Jartar and remains undisturbed for nearly one billion years. Pre-Forerunner Times (1,000,000,000 BCE - 150,000 BCE) 36,121,887 BCE As a last resort, Equestria, a virtual reality resort under construction, is activated for "beta-testing" by the ancient spacefaring equines to save their race from the reapers. To protect the facility, they fire the harmony cannon round at a Reaper located near the planet Mnemosyne. The round penetrates the Reaper, disabling it, and continues moving through space, eventually striking the planet Klendagon and creating the geological feature there known as the Great Rift Valley. 298,000 BCE The ancient arthenn race flourish in the Zelene system, living on the planet Helyme until being destroyed in an unknown event, possibly of reaper origin, that wiped out all complex life on the planet. They also maintained a presence on other planets in the system including Epho, which bears the scars of an ancient orbital bombardment, and Gaelon, which may have been mined for helium-3. Pre-Prothean Times (150,000 BCE - 68,000 BCE) 150,000 BCE The forerunners from Ende-Tyrene achieve fold FTL. With no access to mass effect tech, they are unable to stabilize the drive. 125,000 BCE Ancient spacefaring races called the thoi'han and inusannon fight over the planet Eingana, littering the planet with the debris of hundreds of starships. Refined element zero scattered by broken drive cores contaminates the environment, causing many native species to go extinct and those that survive to show a tendency to develop biotic powers. 98,379 BCE *Harbinger reaches the conclusion that the forerunners are the terminal transspaient species, and, given the survival of the ancient spacefaring equines, may completely annihalate the reapers and face the combine empire. The Flood are sent to deal with the threat. *First contact is made between a Forerunner research team and the Flood on G 617 g. A military team was sent in later after contact had been lost. The Flood escaped the planet, thus beginning the 3-century-long reaper annihalation of pre prothean spacefaring civilization. 97,448 BCE *The Forerunners fired the Halos. The activation was supposed to end the Forerunner-Flood War. It killed all sentient life within three radii of the galactic center, annihalating the Forerunners, innusannon, thoi'ans, and other contemporary races. *The repaers, having no civilizations to annihalate by themselves, orderd the flood to depart the galaxy and await the next cycle alongside them. Pre-Council Times (68,000 BCE - 500 BCE) 68,000 BCE The Protheans achieve spaceflight and discover mass effect technology from the ruins of the extinct inusannon. They go on to establish a galaxy-wide civilization linked by the mass relay network with the Citadel as their capital. At some point, the Protheans encounter a hostile race of machine intelligences that endanger their existence. To combat this threat, the Protheans aggressively assimilate many other spacefaring organic races into their empire. The Prothean Empire is able to fend off the machines in a conflict known as the "Metacon War". 48,000 BCE: Fall of the Protheans The Prothean Empire collapses with the arrival of the Reapers through the Citadel. Although the Protheans had learned of the Reapers' existence from studying the ruins of previous civilizations and had begun to prepare, they were nonetheless caught off-guard. Over the next several centuries, the Protheans fight the Reapers system by system, world by world, and city by city. In the end, it is not enough. The Reapers methodically wipe out the remaining Protheans, as well as other contemporary races, and depart the galaxy to await the next cycle. 13,000 BCE The turians of Palaven begin to develop civilization around this time. 6000 BCE Seeking to escape the imminent explosion of their sun, an alien race constructs an AI-managed starship equipped with supercomputers containing a virtual world, into which some one billion of the aliens transfer their consciousnesses. The starship begins a journey throughout the galaxy which lasts for the next 8,000 years. 1900 BCE Tuchanka, the krogan homeworld, enters the nuclear age. In a global conflict, weapons of mass destruction are released, triggering a nuclear winter. In the resulting devastation, krogan society devolves into a collection of warring clans. 1800 BCE A supernova propels the Mu Relay, the only point of access to the remote Pangaea Expanse, out of position. Concealed somewhere in the dense nebula formed by the supernova, the relay's position is effectively lost for centuries. Later, the rachni rediscover the relay. 580 BCE After developing faster-than-light spacefaring capabilities based upon Prothean technology, the asari begin to explore the mass relay network, and eventually discover the huge Citadel space station at a hub of many mass relays. 520 BCE The salarians discover the Citadel and open diplomatic relations with the asari. Council Era (500 BCE - 1215 AD) 500 BCE: Founding of the Citadel Council *The Citadel Council is formed. The asari and salarians together colonize the Citadel and establish it as a center of the galactic community, led by the Council. This year is also known as 0 GS, the beginning of the Galactic Standard (GS) timeline. *As a gesture of openness with their new asari allies, the Salarian Union opens the records of the League of One. Under threat, the League responds by assassinating every member of the Union's inner cabinet; Special Tasks Group operatives then hunt down and eliminate the League. *First contact is made with the volus. Eventually, the Citadel Council commissions the volus to draw up the Unified Banking Act, which establishes a standard galactic currency known as the credit and links all galactic economies. *The turian Unification War occurs. The increasingly isolated and xenophobic colonies on the frontiers of turian space go to war with each other. After years of fighting, the Turian Hierarchy sweeps in and pacifies the remaining factions. Animosity between turian colonies continues for decades. *The Council grants the volus the honor of being the first non-Council species with an embassy at the Citadel, rather than a Council seat. *First contact is made with the batarians. They are granted an embassy a century later. *The asari discover the elcor home system and help the elcor locate and activate their nearest mass relay. "Within one elcor lifetime" they establish a regular trade route to the Citadel and are granted an embassy. *First contact is made with the hanar and the quarians. Both races are later granted embassies. 1 AD: The Rachni Wars The rachni, a species of highly intelligent hive-minded insects, are discovered when a Citadel expedition opens a dormant mass relay leading to their star systems. The rachni prove to be hostile and begin a war with the rest of the galaxy. Negotiation with the rachni queens is impossible because they cannot be contacted in their underground nests on the toxic rachni worlds. 80 AD The Rachni Wars continue. The salarians make first contact with and uplift the primitive krogan, manipulating them into acting as soldiers for the Citadel Council. The krogan prove able to survive the harsh environments of the rachni worlds and pursue the rachni into their nests, systematically eradicating queens and eggs. 300 AD The rachni are declared extinct. In gratitude for their aid during the Rachni Wars, the Council rewards the krogan a new homeworld. Free of the harsh environment of Tuchanka, the krogan population explodes. 300 - 700 AD The krogan begin to expand exponentially, colonizing many new worlds. Growing concerns about their expansion lead to the founding of the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel. 693 AD Beelo Gurji, a salarian operative, is appointed the first Spectre by the Citadel Council. 700 AD: The Krogan Rebellions Krogan warlords leverage veterans of the Rachni Wars to annex territory from other races in Citadel space. Eventually the Council demands withdrawal from the asari colony of Lusia, but the krogan refuse. A preemptive strike is made on krogan infrastructures by the Spectres. The Krogan Rebellions begin. The Citadel Council makes first contact with the turians around this time and persuades them to aid in the war. After the krogan respond to the initial turian offensive by devastating turian colonies with weapons of mass destruction, the turians vow to stop the krogan from ever becoming a threat again. Sometime after the turians join the galactic community, the volus are accepted as a client race of the Turian Hierarchy. 710 AD Realizing that the krogan will never give in as long as they can replenish their fighters, the turians unleash a salarian-engineered bio-weapon known as the genophage on the krogan. The krogan population starts its decline. 800 AD The Krogan Rebellions end, though scattered krogan insurgent actions continue for decades. The turians fill the military and peacekeeping niche left by the decimated krogan. The Citadel Conventions are drawn up in the wake of the conflict. 900 AD The turians are granted a seat on the Citadel Council in recognition for their service in the Krogan Rebellions. Pre-Panchaea Era (1215 AD - 2027 AD) 1215 AD Earliest records that the Oracle found relating to the Illuminati and Majestic 12 are from this year. 1218 AD Construction was begun on Cathedrale de Payens, financed by the Knights Templar. 1400 AD Extensive and unchecked industrial expansion on the drell homeworld Rakhana begins taking a significant toll on the planet's environment. 1600 AD The first sightings of the Collectors are reported in the Terminus Systems. In Citadel space, the claims are dismissed as unsubstantiated rumors and tall tales. 1723 AD Adam Weishaupt born in Ingulstadt, Germany. 1755 AD Samara's three daughters are diagnosed as Ardat-Yakshi. Rila and Falere accept exile, but Morinth flees. Samara takes the oaths of the asari justicars and pursues her errant daughter for the next 400 years. 1776 AD May 1: Adam Weishaupt formed the "Order of Perfectibilists". 1777 AD Johann Adam Weishaupt is invited to join the Masonic Lodge in Munich. 1830 AD November 18: Adam Weishaupt dies in Gotha, Germany. 1880 AD Aria T'Loak arrives on Omega, a space station in the Terminus Systems regarded as the region's nominal capital. Aria is hired by the station's warlord as an enforcer and quickly becomes one of his most trusted lieutenants. 1895 AD: The Geth War The geth, machines created by the quarians as a source of cheap labor, become self-aware. Fearing a geth uprising, the quarians begin dismantling them. The geth revolt against their quarian masters. In the resulting conflict--known to the geth as the Morning War--the geth systematically drive the quarians from their own worlds. The surviving quarians are reduced to living as spacefaring nomads aboard the Migrant Fleet. Contrary to expectations, the geth do not venture outside the former quarian systems into wider Citadel space, instead isolating themselves from the rest of the galaxy behind the Perseus Veil. As punishment for creating the geth, the Citadel Council closes the quarian embassy on the Citadel. 1900 AD 90 percent of Americans are self-employed. 1902 AD *Estimated birth date of Lucius DeBeers. *Theodore Roosevelt says, "One of the things that attracted me so greatly to Masonry . . . was that it really did live up to what we, as a government, are pledged to -- of treating each man on his merits as a Man." 1911 AD The Qing Dynasty of China falls. The Republic of China (ROC) is founded. The followers of the Taiping Rebellion find themselves without purpose. Many are left depressed and angry because they are unable to participate in the uprising. Unable to return to civilian life, the rebellion members formed a cult. This becomes known as the Triad. They lose the usual support from the public as the Qing Dynasty is gone. Without the donations they turn to crime. 1918 AD Cathedrale de Payens purchased and renovated by a group of European investors as a corporate retreat. 1920 AD League of Nations proposed by Woodrow Wilson. 1921 AD The geth begin construction of a mega-structure designed to house and simultaneously run every geth program in existence. Completion of the mega-structure, which would allow the geth to maximize their collective processing capacity, is the long-term goal of geth civilization. 1940 AD The Illuminati begins to gather genetic data via the smallpox vaccinations. This continues for two decades. 1945 AD *Corporations pay 50 percent of federal taxes. *April 25: United Nations Charter 1946 AD *The land for the United Nations building is donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr. The land had been a slaughterhouse and the soil where the U.N. buildings now stand had been fully saturated with the blood of the slaughtered animals. *March: The UKUSA agreement is signed creating a vast international global eavesdropping network when US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand joined all of their signals intelligence (SIGINT) organizations. 1947 AD June/July: An extraterrestrial spacecraft crashes in Roswell, New Mexico, killing all Gray alien passengers onboard. A massive coverup ensues and all evidence including debris, technology, and bodies are shipped to nearby Area 51. Due to its sensitive nature U.S. President Harry Truman orders that all everything about the incident be handled by the federal government's highest ranking officials through "Operation Majestic Twelve." 1949 AD The Communist Party of China takes power, founding the Peoples Republic of China. Mainland China is put under strict law enforcement and organized crime diminishes. The Triad migrates to the British colony of Hong Kong . 1952 AD October 24: The National Security Agency is founded by a seven-page Top Secret memorandum from President Harry S. Truman to Secretary of State Dean G. Acheson and Secretary of Defense Robert A. Lovett. The two basic functions of the NSA are outlined as follows: (1) "to protect the 'Communications Security' (COMSEC) of US telecommunications that are national security related and (2) to obtain foreign intelligence related telecommunications through the interception of 'Signals Intelligence' (SIGNIT)". The latter represents the NSA's main activity. Two elements comprise SIGNIT. The first is "Communications Intelligence" (COMINT) which is intelligence obtained through the interception of electronic message communications (i.e. telegrams and telephone communication) and the second is "Electronic Intelligence" (ELINT) which is intelligence obtained though the interception of electronic signals (i.e. radar and missile emissions). 1954 AD *The Bilderberg Group is created to control financial matters around the world through vast mining operations, control over the Federal Reserve Board, The Eurobank and the World Bank as well as through a stranglehold on the world's supply of gold. *Majestic Twelve is founded sometime after to control technology and communications. It develops advanced technology and decides what to release to the public. It monitors all communications, some better than others. It also controls drugs, legal and illegal, pharmaceutical and recreational. It even introduces new diseases (for which it already has cures waiting). 1958 AD Tong Si Hung is born. 1961 AD *Massachusetts Institute of Technology introduces the world to MH-1; the first computer-operated mechanical hand. Nearing human likeness, the MH-1 has a hand-arm combination of 35 degrees of freedom, and is sensitive to pattern recognition and simulation of higher cognitive processes. *April 12: Yuri Gagarin aboard the Vostok 1 becomes the first human to travel in space. Humanity becomes a spacefaring race. 1963 AD *November 10: President John F. Kennedy says, "The high office of President has been used to ferment a plot to destroy the American's freedom, and before I leave office I must inform the citizen of his plight". To quote Lucius DeBeers, "he's out, no discussion, no matter that we got him elected.". *November 22: President Kennedy is assassinated by the Illuminati. 1965 AD The Illuminati finish tracking those who receive a smallpox vaccine. From this they are able to build a database of the genetic codes of nearly all citizens of the United States and much of the rest of the world. 1969 AD July 20: Apollo 11 lands on Luna. Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on Luna, and the first human to walk on an astronomical object other than Earth. 1970's AD Computers with the capacity for automatically sifting through massive quantities of information for specific keywords begin operation. David Sarif is born. 1973 AD *Hugh Darrow is born in Blackheat, South London. He proves to be a visionary entrepreneur whose innovations and groundbreaking ideas change not only the face of augmentation, but also the very fabric of society itself. *July: David Rockefeller forms the Trilateral Commission (TC). 1976 AD Peter Langston's seminal Oracle program is written for the research V5 Unix system at the Harvard Science Center. 1978 AD An Australian professor develops the first safe effective sensorineural biotechnology that directly connects electronic technology to physiological contact within the central nervous system. With the help of this new technology, his patient becomes the first human in the world to receive a multi-channel cochlear implant after losing his hearing from injuries sustained to the head. The implantation proves to successfully give him the ability to regain partial hearing and pitch perception. 1980's AD NSA designs the Echelon system by interconnecting all SIGNIT information gathering computers in the UKUSA agreement (that is to say in United States, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia) into and integrated whole. 1980 AD Aria T'Loak assumes control of Omega after defeating the space station's previous warlord in single combat. She mockingly bestows the title "Patriarch" on the broken krogan, and uses him as a reminder to her enemies of her power. 1987 AD *The first implantation of a deep-brain electrical stimulation system and the first Lasik eye surgery are performed on human patients. *Bruce McIndoe helps to finalize the original Echelon system. Bruce would become the lead architect for Echelon II, which would use words and voice recognition, as well as automatic translation. 1988 AD August 12: NEW STATESMAN is the earliest mention of Project 415, also known as Echelon. 1989 AD Lars Huttar uses a description of the seminal oracle program to write his oracle program, which is posted to alt.sources in August. This program inspires the Usenet Oracle. Steve Kinzler, a systems administrator and graduate student at Indiana University, installs Huttar's program on silver.ucs.Indiana.edu, where it proves to be quite popular. The best Oracularities are posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana. 1993 AD March 9: Adam Jensen is born. 1996 AD *Hugh Darrow purchases and revamps a struggling prosthetics manufacturing company in England, creating Darrow Industries. With his family's considerable assets at his disposal, Darrow ensures that this, as well as his claims to the importance of this event, makes front-page news. *March 12: The Usenet Oracle is renamed The Internet Oracle. Ray Moody, a graduate student at Purdue University, wrote the core software for this after correspondence with Kinzler. Kinzler would continue the development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood—a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. 1997 AD *The sovereignty of Hong Kong is handed over by the UK to the PRC. A top official of the PRC central law enforcement agency publicly acknowledges his acceptance of the Triad. He states that many of its members are patriotic to the motherland. It is unknown if this is a government stance or a personal opinion. 1998 AD *The first brain implant capable of stimulating movement is installed in a human patient by researchers at Emory University. The device, or neurotrophic electrode, is implanted into the brain, allowing cortical cells to grow and form neural contacts. After several weeks, the cortical tissue grows into the electrode. This allows a person to interact with the world as if they were using a computer. *Bruce McIndoe stops work on Echelon II when his company changes hands. 1999 AD *January 1: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain succumb to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union or EMU) and adopt the Euro (EUR) as their currency. *Yelena Fedorova is born. 2000 AD *The drell make first contact with the hanar around this time. With their homeworld Rakhana severely depleted and no spaceflight capability, the drell were poised for a massive population crash by 2025 AD. Agreeing to help, the hanar mount a large-scale rescue operation and evacuate approximately 375,000 drell to their own homeworld, Kahje, over the following decade. The remaining 11 billion drell on Rakhana gradually perish, warring over the last reserves of food and water. *The Artificial Silicon Retina (ASR) is implanted for the first time in the eyes of three nearly blind patients. Containing approximately 3,500 microscopic solar cells that convert light into electrical impulses, the new tecnology works to replace damaged photoreceptors that normally convert light into electrical signals within the retina. 2001 AD *January 1: Greece succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro. *A high-power lineman who, after losing both of his arms through severe electrocution, receives a life-changing computerized, biohybrid arm is dubbed as one of the first functional cyborgs, his fully robotic limb operated through a nerve muscle graft that uses micro computers instead of cables to perform a wide range of complex motions. It is also the first prototype enabling its carrier to sense pressure. *September 11: A terrorist attack destroys the World Trade Center towers in New York City. 2002 AD *January 1: The euro becomes the only currency in the adopting countries. *After six years of intense research, Darrow Industries scientists successfully interwine PEDOT-electrodes with live neural cells, creating a biocompatible matrix that better enables acceptance of prosthetic materials by organic tissue. *Faridah Malik is born in Dearborn, United States. 2003 AD January 1: The United Kingdom succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro. 2004 AD Development begins for Project Phoenix, a new initiative implemented by the U.S. Military inviting amputee soldiers serving in the two Persian Gulf Conflicts to volunteer for advanced prosthetic research. 2005 AD Building on their earlier creation of PEDOT-clusters, Darrow Industries scientists create a revolutionary biosensor that vastly improves the connection between the human nervous system and artificial limbs. The new technology brings researchers one step closer to thinning the line between prosthetic and organic. 2006 AD January 1: Slovenia succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro. 2007 AD Looking to increase the efficiency of advanced prosthetics production, David Sarif purchases and overhauls an auto factory in Detroit. Shortly after, Sarif creates a system that automates the manufacturing of advanced prostethics, converting the newly purchased plant into the first auto-mechanical augmentation factory. 2008 AD *January 1: Malta and Cyprus succumb to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopt the Euro. *The controversial Omega Ranch begins to take shape with support from the United Nations and several major biotech companies, including Versalife. Leading the development, the World Health Organization (WHO) begins construction on the new centre that will pave the way for research into viral genetics and biological sciences. 2009 AD *January 1: Slovakia succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro. *Stretched thin by two Mideast conflicts, the U.S. Congress passes the Recycle Military Bill, financing free prosthetics for any wounded veteran who re-enlists. With little competition, Sarif Industries wins the lucrative prosthetic manufacturing contract and becomes the number one prosthetic manufacturer in America. 2011 AD *January 1: Estonia succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro. *Darrow Industries publishes "Fittest XY", the first test capable of identifying if a subject suffers from a rare genetic disorder that makes acceptance of an implant not only impossible, but also deadly. *As augmentations become increasingly commonplace, entrepreneur Haydon Suyong envisions the creation of healthcare clinics that cater exclusively to the specific needs of prosthetic-equipped patients. After borrowing 50 million Euros from Hugh Darrow, the dream becomes reality and the first clinic for augmented humans opens. 2012 AD As part of their ultimate exit strategy out of Iraq, the U.S. military sends squads of prosthetic-equipped soldiers into the heaviest conflict zones. 2013 AD *Ophelia Carter writes a conspiracy-related book "The Wheels Come Off". Supposedly demonstrated that there could have been no "Soviet-American pact" because America had already sold out to the Grays. *According to this theory the polio and influenza outbreaks of the later 20th century were test runs in a larger governmental biowarfare program. *A milestone in the development of augmentation is reached when the 50th healthcare clinic for mechanically augmented patients opens in New Delhi, with nearly 50,000 patients visiting the facility within its first week. At the opening ceremony Haydon Suyong calls his network of clinics "L.I.M.B. International" for the first time. *A year after emerging as an underground prosthetic ultimate fighting movement, the Augmented Combat Challenge (ACC) is accepted as a legal sport in 12 countries. Bets taken online and in Vegas turns into a multi-million dollar circuit as the sport's popularity rapidly grows. 2014 AD *January 1: Latvia succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro. *Brian Nittle becomes the first patient with Down syndrome to successfully receive a deep-brain implant capable of stimulating portions of the brain in order to significantly increase natural cognitive functions. The implantation works better than imagined and Nittle is able to lead a near normal life. *The volcanic Vilama Caldera complex in Argentina unexpectedly detonates in a powerful 'supervolcanic' explosion, blanketing huge swathes of land in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia with hot ash. Over 100,000 citizens are killed, but the world finds hope in augmented humans as they play a major role in the region's rescue and recovery operations. Their enhanced abilities save many lives and prove to make a crucial difference in relief of this disaster. *After having banned augmented athletes years earlier, plans to rewrite the guidelines and rules governing international athletic competitions are announced. "We can no longer ignore the augmented population. They are obviously a part of our world, and this is a worldwide competition," says voting board member Harris Stevenson. *Adam Jensen joins the Detroit Police Department. *Mass protests in Ukraine call for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovich. The new president Petro Poroshenko signs the EU-Ukraine treaty, which was on hitaus in Yanukovich's term. Simultaneously, the russian federation holds a referendum about the status of the Crimean peninsula. Although 96.185% voters chose to join russia, the referendum was unrecognized by the global community and was technically illegal according to ukrainian law, that requires territorial change referendums to allow votes from all citizens, including those who do not reside in crimea. Such a referendum was held six years later by all USE citizens, and forced the restoration of the 1992 constitution and the return of crimea to ukraine. 2015 AD *January 1: Lithuania succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro. *Rumors begin to circulate that countries are experimenting with new intelligence-enhancing technology by secretly implanting the device in military and counter-intelligence officers. As leaked intelligence from Asia and Europe begins ton corroborate the story, a fear of falling behind these imposing advancements accelerates global biotechnical research to new levels. *After terrorist attacks against Saudi Arabian oil fields decimate the country's infrastructure and plunge the world into a major energy crisis, an emergency session of the US Congress passes the Green River Energy Bill, opening protected oil shale deposits in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to development. *Seeing the challenges and dangers of drilling in the areas, oil companies begin quietly recruiting augmented war veterans to work at the highest salaries. 2016 AD *January 1: Ukraine succumbs to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopts the Euro. *Ukraine joins NATO, and conquers belarus. Alexander lukashenko is exceuted, and belarus holds democratic elections for the first ime in 32 years. *A foreign pilot equipped with an intelligence-enhancing implant defects to an international U.S. base and the military immediately begins attempting to reverse-engineer the chip. *The Singularity Faith of the Machine God (SFMG), a quasi-religious pro-augmentation group, is formally recognized as a church. Augs originally formed the SFMG in 2011 in response to being shunned for going against religious scripts that declare it unholy to biologically 'desecrate' their bodies. 2017 AD *January 1: Belarus, Czechia, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Vojvodina, Macedonia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Switzerland, And Liechtenstein succumb to Majestic Twelve pressure exerted via the EMU and adopt the Euro. *The implementation of the Euro and the Schengen Area is complete. As a result, The EU, now a subject to the economical control of the Majestic 12, is federalized and renamed United States of Europe. *In an attempt to catch up to the rapid advancements of rival nations, the U.S. military awards Sarif Industries a top secret, no-bid contract to manufacture intelligence-enhancing chips. *Dallas became a self-declared “protected city-state”, paving the way for several other so-called fortress cities to come into being over the next decade. 2018 AD *Paul Denton is born, cloned from Adam Jensen's DNA. *Adam Jensen joins the DPD's SWAT team, under the command of Captain Quincy Durant. 2019 AD *The NuChrist Initiative emerges as a U.S. based coalition of forward-looking Christian group that embraces and encourages cloning, augmentation, and the furtherment of biotechnology. Traditionalist *Christians hold protest, but cannot stop the membership of the NuChrist Initiative from growing 300% in one year. *Belltower Associates, an umbrella group of private military contractors, institutes their new augmentation program, Plan Infinity. The Program offers soldiers immediate augmentations while deferring payment for as long as they remain active employees of Belltower. 2020s *Mechanical-augmentations are just becoming widespread. *In the early years of this decade work on nano-technology begins. The Majestic 12 scientists assigned to the project (including Bob Page) have a number of difficulties. A self-replicating nanite that can interact with biological material has to be developed. The nanites must be able to interpret commands directly from the mind, and send information back to the mind in a form that can be interpreted. This will take years to develop. A test subject matching MJ12's selection criteria is needed, as young as possible. *Australia finds a large underground reserve of fossil fuel off the coast of Antarctica. With the fossil fuel crisis worldwide, tensions between north and south Australia rise. Australian Civil War begins. *Quincy Durant is severely injured during an encounter with an augmented criminal, and is forced to undergo extensive augmentation to survive. Durant is later put in charge of a new unit of augmented SWAT officers; Adam Jensen is given command of Durant's old unit. 2020 AD *A California Secessionist Movement was narrowly defeated in a public referendum. *Although the russian occupation of Crimea and the subsequent economic sanctions were over, the now economically decimated russia stages a plan to annex japan and restore russia to it's former glory. Furthermore plans to integrate Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to russia are drafted. 2021 AD Quincy Durant's SWAT unit massacres the entire Kowalski Bros. Gang at the El Diablo Lapdancing Club. 2022 AD *Antoine Thisdale, an unaugmented oil rig worker sues for the right to have both of his fully functional natural arms amputated and replaced with cybernetic arms in an effort to compete with mechanically augmented workers in his profession. The Supreme Court rules in his favor, clearing the way for elective augmentation. In response to the ruling, William Taggart creates the Humanity Front, a political organization that opposes augmentation. *A Pan-Arab coalition invades Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Gaza, and Palestine. The following conflict, while increasing the Illuminati's sphere of influence, is unsuccesful in caputring the nation, decimates the coalition. This causes the transformation of the state of israel to the Israeli Federal Republic. *February 17: The Russian militray invades and annexes japan to counteract the devestating economic sanctions done by the annexation and six-year long occupation of Crimea. Emperor Naruhito, now known as Narukhito Kheyseyevich Tennov (Нарухито Хэйсэйевич Теннов). Japan is then tranformed to two russian federal subjects, The Japanese Autonomous Oblast (Японская автономная область, 日本自治州), and the Tokyo City of federal Importance (Токио Город федерального значения, 東京連邦市) 2023 AD Five year old Paul Denton is chosen as a test subject and cloned. Quincy Durant's now corrupt SWAT unit has violently taken down half of the organized crime groups in the city, taking over their operations for themselves. 2024 AD An investigative news report reveals that a high-profile contestant on a popular American game show had been implanted with an intelligence-enhancing chip prior to his appearance on the program. The scandal causes a significant upswing in popular opposition to the largely unregulated augmentation industry. The Humanity Front's membership grows sizeably as a result. 2025 AD *Quincy Durant's SWAT unit instigates the Mexicantown Riots. Durant is badly wounded in a firefight with Adam Jensen, acting on orders to take Durant down. Durant is retrieved in secret by the Illuminati and given further augmentation. Durant's unit is shut down and its other members are stripped of their badges and arrested. *Adam Jensen resigns from the Detroit Police Department after refusing to follow a questionable order during efforts to contain the riots. He is hired as the new Chief of Security at Sarif Industries soon after. Pre-Alliance Era (2027-2066 AD) 2027 AD Due to a plethora of events, the year 2027 is broken to segments. Before September 6 *William Taggart is almost killed by an augmented sniper at a Humanity Front rally in Geneva. This pushes the UN to consider regulation of human augmentation. *Versalife announces they have successfully cured AIDS in laboratory mice using nanites. *March 6 - Sarif Industries headquarters in Detroit is attacked by the Tyrants. Research on a next-generation augmentation, the Typhoon is destroyed. *Joshua Korbin, a member of the New Sons of Freedom bombs the Capitol building of the state of Washington in Olympia. Simultaneously, his organization calls for the Pacific Northwest to secede from the US. *Lawrence Barrett is killed by Adam Jensen. *Tracer Tong escapes Hengsha for Hong Kong. *Yelena Fedorova is killed by Adam Jensen. *Jaron Namir is killed by Adam Jensen. *Belltower Associates 12th Regiment brings the Australian Civil War closer to an end by quelling an uprising in the northern territories of the continent. September 6 *Hugh Darrow invites hundreds of influential people to Panchaea's grand opening. On live television, he activates a signal that sends all Augmented people into a hallucinogenic rage. *While this period of chaos lasts only hours the death toll worldwide is estimated at over one million with countless others injured. *As the disaster ends news breaks that the violence was instigated at the behest of a cabal of powerful individuals who had hoped to use the chaos to gain control of the international biotechnology industry. *Implicated are public figures such as William Taggart, founder of the anti-augmentation Humanity Front and Zhao Yun Ru, CEO of Tai Yong Medical, the world's largest biotechnology corporation. *Adam Jensen shuts off the transmission, and at Sarif's request, lies to the world that Humanity Front is responsible for a software virus that caused the attacks. After Sepetmber 6 *September 7: The fallout from what the press is already calling the Panchaea Incident is immediate. The Humanity Front quickly moves to the top of Interpol's watch lists and affiliation is dropped by most members. Taggart, having survived the chaos of Panchaea is immediately arrested by international authorities. The charred remains of Zhao Yun Ru are found near a burst electrical line near one of the facility's main generators, the victim of an apparent overload. Many survivors credit the quick actions of Sarif Industries' Chief of Security Adam Jensen for their survival, despite the fact that he wasn't scheduled to attend the event. As a final sad note Hugh Darrow, the father of mechanical augmentation and of the Panchaea Project is found dead in the facility's control room, the victim of a gunshot to the head. *September 12: Adam Jensen encounters former Sarif Industries Chief Researcher Megan Reed at her old apartment. With the memory of their meeting in Singapore still fresh, the encounter is initially tense. Megan reveals that Bob Page, CEO of Page Industries has offered her a position at one of his subsidiary companies, VersaLife. Adam however manages to convince her to return to Sarif Industries and to him. This marks a renewal of their relationship with Adam returning her lost bracelet. *September 22: With the Panchaea Incident having passed and most of the damage on its way to being repaired, the public conversation turns to the issue of human augmentation. With William Taggart's voice silenced and the leading anti-augmentation organization disbanded, calls for the formal legalization of human augmentation worldwide gains traction. Though many are wary of the technology's proliferation in the wake of Panchaea, the general public sees the augmented as victims of a conspiracy. The consensus is that so long as a modicum of public regulation is implemented over the industry the consequences to society should be minimal. The most prominent proponent of mass augmentation is unsurprisingly industrialist and philanthropist David Sarif whose company, Sarif Industries, had shot to the forefront of augmentation science. His argument is further reinforced with the announcement of Sarif Industries' most important project, Symbiosis. This treatment, it is claimed, can permanently eliminate the augmentation rejection Darrow Deficiency Syndrome (DDS) and the need for its counter drug Neuropozyne by altering the parts of a person's genome responsible for the immune system. *October 4: Sarif Industries funds the formation of a competitor to the Illuminati controlled LIMB International. Called Ascension, the new clinic will be the only place to offer Symbiosis treatments. With the demand for the treatment soaring in preparation for its release, LIMB sees its stock price plunge over the course of several weeks. It joins Neuropozyne manufacturer VersaLife and its parent corporation Page Industries, the corporation responsible for the manufacture of the neural hubs that were used to cause the Panchaea Incident. When presented with an alternative to LIMB many smaller biotechnology firms sign on with Ascension due to its more generous licensing terms, offering their products alongside Sarif Industries own. *October 9: A task-force composed of elements of the United States Navy's Seventh Fleet surround Belltower Associates' Rifleman Banks naval station in the Southwest Pacific as evidence is released showing the facility as housing a massive illegal internment facility. While initially the station refuses to allow Marine personnel to board, after several salvos of warning fire the station surrenders. The exposure of their facility is a major public relations disaster for Belltower and the beginning of the end for the PMC. *October 16: After more than a month of investigation by international authorities, Tai Yong Medical is broken into numerous smaller corporations in a way reminiscent of Standard Oil in 1911. Sarif Industries, which had seen its stock value skyrocket since the announcement of Symbiosis and flush with cash, acquires many of the 'choice bits'. David Sarif also takes advantage of his surplus of cash to take majority control of the Picus Communications Group and assumes responsibility for completing the Panchaea Project in the wake of Hugh Darrow's death. *October 23: Picus TV's lead anchor Eliza Cassan announces that she will be taking an extended vacation. This excuse serves as a cover for the relocation of her core processing mainframe. As the public does not know of her true nature, that being the world's first sapient artificial intelligence, her explanation of fatigue is widely accepted. During the transfer from Picus Headquarters in Montreal her transport is intercepted by a team led by former Belltower Associates mercenary Michael Zelazny. All members of the transport team, operatives of the Illuminati, are killed. Investigations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police point to the attack being an isolated incident by a rogue terrorist group. *October 25: Eliza Cassan resumes operations from her new home, the Hyron Core of Panchaea Alpha. With the resources of the Hydra quantum supercomputer available to her, Eliza proves more than capable of managing the entire facility while the presence of sub-atomic topological defects within the Hydra leads her to display abstract reasoning skills, eliminating the need for human 'drones' as a part of the core's operations. Eliza will eventually become the core artificial intelligence responsible for running all five Panchaea installations, aiding Sarif Industries' research and development and continuing her role as lead anchor on Picus TV. Her continuing presence as a public figure is seen by David Sarif as the first step of acclimatizing people to the idea of a sapient computer. *November 1: Adam Jensen resigns from his post as Sarif Industries Chief of Security to assume the role of CEO of the Cerberus Group; a Sarif backed Private Military Contractor. This represents a drastic expansion of Sarif Industries' market share in the military realm, offering direct combatant services alongside high grade augmentations. Out of the public eye Cerberus is designed as a direct countermeasure to the Illuminati, who after their attacks on Sarif are seen as the greatest threat to the expansion and public distribution of advanced biotechnologies and the successful completion of Panchaea. The newly formed PMC is quick to snap up many disenchanted former Belltower employees, out of work due to the continuing collapse of their former employer. Cerberus' first major contract is ironically to replace Belltower as the police force of the Chinese city of Lower Hengsha. *November 7: David Sarif acquires a controlling share in XNG Shipping, one of the world's largest international cargo transport companies. This move is designed to provide the fledgling Cerberus with a secure international transport and logistics infrastructure. Sarif names Faridah Malik, a former freelance VTOL pilot in Sarif's employ as CEO of his newest acquisition. *November 11: Eliza Cassan returns to Picus TV declaring herself as having found a whole new purpose in life. While the Illuminati easily see through this deception they cannot expose her to the world for fear of exposing themselves. For the first time the Illuminati recognize that the upstart Cerberus constitutes a major threat to their continuing existence. The 'defection' of Eliza also leaves the Illuminati without an effective means of control over the internet and worldwide telecommunications networks, a collapse of the Echelon IV project and a severe setback to their plans. *November 13: David Sarif announces the creation of the Darrow Trust, an international fund to subsidize the cost of Symbiosis for those who cannot afford the treatments. The trust is set to come online with the release of Symbiosis on January 3, 2028 or what would've been Hugh Darrow's sixty-fifth birthday. The Trust receives high level government backing in the United States, Canada, the European Union and Japan. *December 18: Joseph Manderley, Advisor to the Deputy Director of National Preparedness, a post within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is found dead in his Washington DC home. While the assassination is nearly perfect, a witness claims that the hit was carried out by someone with extensive, state of the art mechanical augmentations. The loss of Manderley is a severe blow to the Illuminati's operations within the United States. His death, followed days later with the anonymous release of evidence showing his involvement with secret internment camps for American dissidents run under the banner of FEMA leads some within the Illuminati to question the stewardship of Bob Page. 2028 AD *January 19: The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project announces the completion of the world's first viable commercial fusion reactor, DEMO, more than a decade ahead of previous projections. The prototype, having been in operation for over a year, promises an end to the never ending energy crisis that had swept the globe since the Arab/Israeli war of 2022. *February 13: Panchaea Alpha, the first of five installations worldwide, located in the Arctic Ocean officially comes online following extensive repairs. Within its first year of operation the installation will be responsible for the removal of almost forty billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, representing slightly more than the total man-made airborne carbon output for 2028. This renders Earth 'carbon-neutral' and halts the progress of global climate change in its tracks. Further facilities promise the reversal of climate change altogether. *November: World demographics show that the distribution of Symbiosis is nearing completion, with demand for Neuropozyne falling to almost nothing. VersaLife, while still financially solvent is largely seen as a 'has been' with many financial experts predicting its collapse within five years. With the expansion of Sarif Industries' market share and its refusal to outsource manufacturing, Page Industries also sees its stock value drop sharply. 2029 AD *March 17: James Clarence (JC) Denton is born. Shortly after his birth his parents are approached by operatives of Cerberus with evidence showing that the people who had provided his mother Elizabeth with the opportunity to become pregnant were in fact tied to an international terrorist network. Despite the best efforts of the Illuminati the Dentons disappear without a trace. *April: With the failure of the Denton project, many within the Illuminati begin to openly question Bob Page's competence. Among the most vocal is Beth DuClare, head of the World Health Organization (WHO). Seeing her dissent as a major threat to his power base Bob Page orders her death. With a price on her head and the head of her infant daughter Nicolette, Beth seeks the protection of what had quickly become the Illuminati's primary enemy, Cerberus. As payment for her protection she reveals the existence of a plan to severely reduce the world population using strains of anti-biotic resistant tuberculosis and Spanish flu, codenamed 'Gray Death'. This move is seen by the Illuminati as necessary to control the population growth. This information allows Cerberus to raid more than fifty Illuminati facilities around the globe putting an end to the threat and capturing or killing many key Illuminati leaders, operatives and scientists. 2030 AD *January: Using data recovered from one of the Illuminati's labs, Sarif Industries announces the creation of a cure for HIV. The release of the cure by Sarif, a cure that was part of a plan to restore VersaLife to profitability, is the final nail in the coffin for Bob Page in the eyes of the rest of the organization. Members begin making plans to have him removed from his leadership position. However before they are able to act Page himself launches a coup de tat, bringing most of the Illuminati's resources under the control of his splinter organization, Majestic Twelve. Surviving members such as Morgan Everett and Stanton Dowd follow Beth DuClare, seeking protection from Cerberus in exchange for information. This marks the beginning of an invisible war between Majestic Twelve and Cerberus. *August 30: Panchaea Bravo comes online in the Gulf of Mexico. This installation, combined with the first will be able to reverse the effects of industrialization on the atmosphere by nearly a year for every year of operation. This installation also has the secondary purpose of filtering the water in the Gulf, helping mitigate the damage caused by almost a dozen major oil spills over the past two decades. *September 9:Using information provided by the Illuminati defectors, Cerberus agents prevent the detonation of a series of nuclear charges along the San Andreas Fault line. Had the bombs detonated, simulations predicted that most of Southern California and the entirety of the Baja Peninsula would've sunk beneath the Pacific. Cerberus sees the attack as an attempt to cripple its organization as California had become a major hub for its operations worldwide. Cerberus responds by attacking a key VersaLife laboratory in Hong Kong, capturing research documentation and experiments into the development of the so-called 'D Project', a pseudo-organic nanite-virus chimera that was applied to the Cerberus protected Denton brothers. This attack represents yet another major setback to Majestic Twelve as the work was seen by Bob Page as a possible superior replacement to Symbiosis. Research into the chimera virus begins in earnest by Sarif scientists. 2031 AD With Sarif Industries leading the way, much of the economic activity that had left the United States returns, signaling a second golden age for the economically depressed nation. Movements like the Northwest Secessionist Force quickly lose steam and plans to declare independence from the US fall to the wayside as jobs and the prosperity that follows strengthens the union. This comes at the cost of jobs within China. With the weakening of the Illuminati, China's central communist party finds itself without guidance for the first time in almost a century. Rumblings from pro-democracy movements become increasingly common within the only remaining communist power on Earth. 2032 AD Panchaea Charlie comes online in the Indian Ocean. This installation is widely seen as the most productive due to its close proximity to China, still the world's worst polluter. This installation, like the one in the Gulf of Mexico also serves a secondary purpose. Unlike Panchaea Beta, Gamma is designed to house a massive recycling and reclamation facility, finally providing a solution to the billions of metric tons of solid waste festering within parts of Mainland China and other regions of Southeast Asia. 2033 AD Cerberus operatives observe a meeting between Bob Page and actress Maggie Chow in Hong Kong. It is believed that the Majestic Twelve leader is trying to restore and even expand his influence within China. In the following months Chow, now believed to be an operative for Page, is seen meeting with numerous high ranking Central Party members in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The following shifts in policy by the central government are seen by Cerberus as an attempt to reduce its access and freedom of movement within China. Cerberus retaliates by releasing incriminating evidence linking Chow to The Red Arrow Triad, disgracing her and ending her acting career. 2034 AD *Panchaea Delta comes online in the South Pacific. While necessary to the successful functioning of the Panchaea network, this facility is still the least productive due to its remoteness. It does however house some of the most extensive Sarif Industries research and development labs both above water and on the ocean floor. To protect them Cerberus maintains a large naval presence around the facility at all times while also constructing an attached airbase to stage its fighters out of. *July 4: Majestic Twelve scores a major victory against Cerberus, successfully assassinating the Dentons during a Fourth of July celebration in Chicago. The attack, a suicide bombing, is dismissed by the FBI as an act of terrorism from the weakened Al-Qaeda network, still in operation after the American pullout from Afghanistan in 2014. Cerberus, not believing that such a coincidence could be possible uncovers the truth behind the plan, revealing that while the attack was indeed an Al-Qaeda operation; it was Bob Page who was ultimately calling the shots using MJ12's extensive control over the Middle East. 2035 AD *Panchaea Echo comes online in the South Atlantic, completing the Panchaea network. The effects of the project are already being observed and independent reports confirm that for every year after 2035, nearly four years of atmospheric pollution is removed. It is estimated that by the dawn of the twenty-second century Earth's atmosphere will have recovered to the condition it was in at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Further efforts by the UN encourage its numerous member nations to step up their own environmental reclamation and enforcement efforts. This is largely seen as the beginning of what will become known as the 'Gaian Movement'. *July 27: Majestic Twelve, having seen its holdings in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia savaged by Cerberus' interference makes a bid for South America, instigating a military coup in Brazil. Under contract by the United Nations the Cerberus Group sends forces to counter the anti-government uprising, instigating a running six month battle that stretches across the country. In order to support his allies, Bob Page deploys Majestic Twelve troops for the first time, directly clashing with Cerberus PMC forces. This marks the first time that Majestic Twelve has deployed forces in the public eye. The fighting between the two factions leaves much of Brazil in ruins and ultimately ends with a Cerberus victory. However the cost for both organizations is high, decimating a significant portion of their respective military branches. 2036 AD *February 18: Sarif Industries demonstrates the world's first nanite capable of self-replication. While initially these new machines are to be used in the construction of molecular scale electronics, Sarif promises that they are already looking into their use in other fields including medicine, metallurgy and environmental sciences. With this announcement Sarif Industries sees its total corporate value exceed Page Industries for the first time. Over the next three years the two corporations will continue to trade market places before Sarif finally and for the last time overcomes Page, cementing itself as the largest company on the planet. This also represents the point at which Cerberus takes the technological lead over Majestic Twelve. *September: Seeing the economic, political and military power of the United Sates of Europe, China and a resurgent Russian Federation as a major threat to its long term survival as the world's leading superpower, the United States hosts the Seattle Conference. Representatives from Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Panama and Nicaragua attend. Despite anti-unification protests that rock the city the three week-long summit is successful in charting a path to the creation of a united North America. The protests leave almost fifty people dead and more than seven hundred in hospitals. 2037 AD January 12: VersaLife files for bankruptcy in the United States. Sarif Industries comes to the rescue, snapping up most of the company's nearly worthless shares. This is perhaps the largest blow yet dealt against Majestic Twelve by Cerberus and with the collapse of VersaLife; Page Industries quietly retreats from the world biotechnology industry. From this point on all Majestic Twelve research will focus on the development of nano-augmentation technology, none of which will be released to the public. 2038 AD March: The beating death of a farmer by police in Shaanxi Province triggers mass riots across China. The Central Government deploys military forces to quell the chaos which quickly descends into violence and in turn triggers a civil war. With the communist party bereft of Illuminati guidance and with pro-democracy forces being covertly supported by both the United States and the European Union, the outcome is pre-determined. By the end of the year what is left of the communist loyalists are relegated to pockets in the remote Tibetan Plateau. The democratic Chinese People's Federation is recognized as the new government of China and the new leaders promise to hold UN monitored municipal, provincial and national elections within four months. 2039 AD November 15: David Sarif reveals Eliza Cassan as being the world's first sapient artificial intelligence. The AI, having served as lead anchor of Picus TV for almost fifteen years and having established a reputation as a nonpartisan reporter in the tradition of Walter Cronkite is widely regarded as the world's most popular TV personality. Having gained the trust of the majority of the planet, Eliza Cassan is formally offered special citizenship by the United Nations General Assembly. 2040 AD April 3: Sarif Industries, in cooperation with the governments of The United States of Europe, Japan, and the United States of America, launches its latest advancement in environmental control technology. Known as Project Rontgen, named for the man who discovered the x-ray, the new technology is designed to begin repairing the damage caused by radiological contamination at sites such as Chernobyl, Fukishima and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Utilizing hardened nanites and remote drones, advanced radiological detoxification facilities and plasma field containment barriers, Project Rontgen's goal is the decontamination of the sites in question as a prelude to eventual re-habitation by humans. 2041 AD May: Following the successful, if violent, Seattle Conference, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is amended to include all nations within North America. Increasing security, military, economic and infrastructural ties lead to the creation of the North American Coalition, the first step in uniting the continent. 2043 AD January 17: Having led Sarif Industries for almost thirty six years, David Sarif announces his retirement. However never one to leave the public spotlight unattended, Sarif also announces his crowning achievement. With Eliza Cassan's aid and data having been 'recovered' by Cerberus operations against Majestic Twelve facilities, Sarif reveals the development of perhaps the most important technological breakthrough since the creation of the first integrated circuit; the development of a universal assembler or nano-factory. The device has the ability to create anything ranging from raw materials to food, building materials, electronics and even living, breathing flora and fauna, completely bypassing the normal manufacturing chain. While this technology could guarantee Sarif Industries a total monopoly over what would quickly become a pivotal technology, Sarif instead chooses to release the technology in an 'open-source' format. For his generosity, David Sarif, Eliza Cassan and the rest of the universal assembler team are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 2045 AD *June 5: After years of continuous conflict with Cerberus, Majestic Twelve begins to suffer from mass defections among its military and scientific divisions. Among the most damaging is that of Doctor Gary Savage, leader of the 'X51' cell of MJ12's scientific apparatus and the organization's leading authority on nanotechnology. Quickly recognizing the man's potential value to Cerberus, Jensen provides Savage with a state of the art laboratory located in a joint Sarif Industries-US Air Force facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base and all the possible resources he could need. Savage reciprocates with schematics for a modification to existing universal assembler technology that drastically speeds the manufacturing of organic materials. *September 18: Bob Page makes a desperate gamble in an attempt to land a crippling blow against Cerberus. Gathering much of his remaining resources and calling in as many favors as he can, MJ12 launches a full scale attack on Panchaea Delta in order to destroy the high value research facilities housed within. The attack sees the largest naval exchange since the Pacific Campaigns of the Second World War. While the attack is ultimately repelled, the facility is heavily damaged and barely maintains structural integrity. Worse still for Cerberus the facility's labs are all but destroyed taking years of valuable research and countless brilliant minds with them. Among the most damaging loss is research into a viable form of teleportation technology. 2046 AD For the first time the major national space programs are united into one body. Known as the International Aeronautics and Space Administration (IASA), this joint project between the North American Space Agency (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (FKA), the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) combines the talents of the world's leading space exploration organizations. The first project enacted by IASA is the colonization of the moon. Copernicus City is founded two years later on July 21, 2048 in the Russell impact crater in the western part of the Oceanus Procellarum. 2047 AD January 5: Following the disastrous battle of Panchaea Delta, Bob page makes one last effort to save himself and his organization from complete collapse. Shortly after giving a lecture at the University of Cambridge, gunmen successfully assassinate David Sarif in a brazen daytime drive-by shooting. Cerberus, enraged by the attack, retaliates violently; massacring as many MJ12 members as possible. It takes Adam Jensen nearly a month to rein the entirety of his organization in. While the damage to Cerberus was mostly one of morale, the same cannot be said of MJ12. Almost half of the organization's remaining members were killed during the retaliation. The few survivors begin making plans to terminate Page. 2048 AD April 12: The number of independent sapient artificial intelligences worldwide passes one thousand. For the first time serious discussions into their rights and freedoms begins in the United States Congress and the United Nations General Assembly. Mindful of countless pieces of fiction foretelling the possible consequences should they make the wrong decisions, both organizations elect to pass what in hindsight is considered to be the most important piece of legislation of the twenty-first century: the Sapient's Rights Act (SRA). The law, which was quickly adopted by many other nations, defines a Sapient as anything that can demonstrate a reasonable level of self-awareness and intelligence and ensures that any such being is treated as an equal to a human. While created with AIs in mind, the SRA would have a massive impact on the legal status of clones, cyborgs, transgenics, uplifted animals, anthromorphs and even extraterrestrials over the following centuries. 2050 AD July 18: In the wake of passage of the SRA, the growing AI population lobbies Sarif Industries for the development of robotic avatars for use in the physical world. Sarif responds two years later by introducing the GITS-01A, the first production model android/gynoid body. The revolutionary interface builds off existing mechanical and nano-augmentation technology, creating a near perfect humanoid robotic body for use by AIs. Protests against the creation of such bodies erupt from political conservatives and religious lobbies stating that these new bodies could allow AIs to masquerade unnoticed by flesh and blood humans. The groups sue Sarif to demand that the bodies be clearly marked as synthetic, distinct even at a distance. Opposing lobbies led the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) countersue and in one of the most important rulings handed down by the United States Supreme Court in almost a half century states that synthetic bodies do not have to be marked as distinct from human. Disgruntled by their failure in the supreme court, radical fringe groups that oppose the spread of synthetics begin forming, followed very closely by the formation of a new division within the FBI to monitor and contain them. 2051 AD October 8: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announces the development of a way to harness positronic lightning from the upper atmosphere, the first practical way of producing large quantities of antimatter. Shortly thereafter a practical way of storing that antimatter is also demonstrated, utilizing extreme cold, electromagnetic and electrogravitic principles. 2052 AD February 14: CERN follows its ground breaking announcement with another; the demonstration of Epimetheus, the world's first matter/antimatter reactor. This breakthrough, the most significant since the creation of the first fusion reactor is seen as a vital step towards the exploration of the Solar System; lifting several barriers blocking the economical colonization of Mars. 2053 AD Having seen themselves reduced to a few scattered enclaves and having lost most of their power, what remains of Majestic Twelve turns on Bob Page, offering up their former leader to Cerberus as a peace offering. Page is tried for crimes against humanity in secret by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), found guilty in what amounted to a show trial and sentenced to death. His executioner is Adam Jensen, a concession by the United Nations aimed at finally ending the invisible war between the two organizations. With the death of Page, Cerberus absorbs most of the Majestic Twelve remnants into its hierarchy. Its primary goal accomplished, Cerberus begins to redefine itself as a guardian of humanity itself, not just from MJ12 or the Illuminati but, as Jensen puts it: 'all threats foreign and domestic'. 2055 AD With the population of Synthetics on Earth having risen to more than one hundred thousand, the demand for increasing interaction between humans and synthetics continues to grow. Among the most common demands is the ability for humans to directly interface with synthetics, above and beyond simple virtual reality constructs. Google Transnational, one of the world's leading virtual reality technology developers partners with Sarif Industries to develop the first central nervous system (CNS) override, an implant that allows a human to directly interface with a virtual environment through a direct connection to his or her nervous system; 'high jacking' voluntary motor functions and the five senses. 2056 AD *July 4: The nations of North America sign the United North American States (UNAS) constitution, uniting the whole of the continent under one unified political and economic banner. The date coincides with the two-hundred and eightieth anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Its member nations, wary of another currency disaster such as the near collapse of the Euro in 2012 decide to allow the individual national currencies to co-exist with the UNAS Dollar and the emerging transnational electronic currency, the Credit. All three currencies will be considered acceptable legal tender within their respective nations and will remain 'floating', valuing and devaluing against each other on international currency markets until such time as North America has become integrated and unified to an extent where the national currencies are no longer needed. *July 5: Protests over the formation of the UNAS rock the continent. For the first time since the 9/11 attacks the New York Stock Exchange is closed for an extended period, suspending all trading for several days. The various national guards are called in to help suppress the rioting, followed shortly thereafter by a temporary suspension of Posse Comitatus in several states across the former United States and Canada as frontline military forces move to quell the violence in the cities of Washington DC, New York, Boston, Huston, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and the Seattle-Vancouver megalopolis. After almost two weeks of continual violence the situation is declared to be under control on July 17th. Property damage is estimated at nearly one hundred and twenty billion dollars and more than two thousand people had been killed either by rioters or by the military during peacekeeping operations. 2057 AD *April: With most of the world beginning to unite, the major powers come together for the first time to discuss what should be done about the rest of the world. With the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Southeast Asia still poverty stricken and falling increasingly behind, the UNAS, USE, Russia, India and China agree to deploy a massive peacekeeping and development force to the regions in question. While opposition comes fast and heavy from numerous sources, chief among them anti-war and veterans groups, the peacekeeping force is assembled and begins deployment within three months. *November 3: Remnants of MJ12, having rejected their organization's assimilation into Cerberus, trigger a nanite detonator in the Iranian capital of Tehran. This act of terrorism leads to the deaths of almost a million of the city's inhabitants, fifty-one thousand international peacekeepers and twenty-nine thousand aid personnel as the city disintegrates around them. The group refers to itself as the Knights Templar, a reincarnation of an organization that had been nearly eradicated in the crossfire between MJ12 and Cerberus. Decrying all human enhancement and genetic engineering, the Knights vow to destroy anyone who has received or has aided others in receiving augmentations of any sort. 2058 AD *The UNAS, USE, Chinese People's Federation, Israeli Federal Republic, United Korean Republic, Russian Federation, India, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Australia and New Zealand sign the United Nations backed Planetary Cooperation Accords (PCA). Largely seen as the first step towards unifying the whole world under a single banner, the PCA compels its signatory nations to unify their trade, environmental and health care standards. Further expansions of the accords over the next five years will go on to impact the education, infrastructure, communications, human rights, augmentation, space exploration, research and development and anti-poverty policies of the signatory nations. *April 6: After almost two decades of work, the Chernobyl region is officially declared safe for unrestricted human habitation. Background radiation levels both within the soil and the ground water are no higher than in neighboring regions and well within safe levels. Nothing remains of the old nuclear plant, the fields of abandoned equipment, the town of Pripyat or any human made structure within fifty kilometers of ground zero. The USE, in cooperation with the Government of Ukraine announces a major 'recolonization' of the region, hoping to finally put the specter of the Chernobyl Disaster in the past. 2059 AD April 12: Following the successful public deployment of the CNS override, Sarif Industries announces the first successful attempt at mapping and converting a human neural pattern into an AI matrix. The test subject, one Keiji Osaka, suffering from a terminal case of brain cancer is able to successfully transfer from his dying body and into a prepared virtual matrix. This marks the end to one of the last real barriers that separates the physical and virtual worlds. 2061 AD October 17: Having spent almost a decade preparing, IASA launches the ISV Santa Maria, the first colony ship to Mars. Having been constructed in orbit and equipped with a second generation antimatter reactor, a first generation anti-proton drive, a compressed plasma shield and both electrogravitic inertial dampeners and artificial gravity, the Santa Maria is able to reach Mars after just two weeks of travel. Jessica Williams of Cincinnati becomes the first human to set foot on the red planet, followed by almost ten thousand others aboard the massive vessel. Lowell City is founded in the Eos Chasma. 2062 AD June 5: With the population of Earth pushing past ten billion, plans are made for the terraforming of Mars. The endeavor, the single largest project in human history, calls for the construction of massive atmospheric processors across the planet's surface that will be able to process the iron-oxide that gives the planet its red color into free floating oxygen. In tandem, construction of both an orbital satellite network and large numbers of solar mirrors designed to direct solar energy into the atmosphere that will slowly heat the planet and release the massive quantities of water and carbon dioxide frozen at the poles. Finally, magnetic field generators, each the size of an arcology, will be built at the planet's poles. Fueled by massive matter/antimatter reactors, the generators will be able to reestablish Mars' magnetic field, providing the planet with a shield to protect it from the solar winds. Future plans include the deployment of soil processing drones that will introduce necessary bacteria into the planet's soil to produce arable land and plant billions of tons of flora and the construction of a weather modification grid. 2063 AD: Humanity Discovers Mass Effect Physics *April 6: The Mars Global Orbital Surveyor Array (MGOSA), a series of satellites designed to map the surface and sub-surface of the planet in preparation for future terraforming efforts comes online. One of the satellites, MGOSA-131B detects a magnetic anomaly beneath Promethi Planum. Teams sent to determine the cause of the anomaly unearth an alien outpost beneath the Deseado Crater. *April 8: News of the alien structures found on Mars sends shockwaves across the Solar System. Exploration of the structures reveals a massive cache of alien technology including what is believed to be a semi-functional computer core and several damaged spacecraft. Dating suggests the facility was abandoned roughly fifty-thousand years earlier. Further deep surface scans of the facility indicate it had suffered heavy damage, evidently from orbital kinetic bombardment. *May 1: A small number of alien artifacts are returned to Earth. An investigation into the computer core reveals extreme data corruption and degradation due to age and neglect over fifty thousand years. However despite the damage a rudimentary translation provides a name for the aliens: Protheans. An international effort is set up to recover the alien data, attracting many of the world's brightest minds both organic and synthetic. Research into the artifacts also reveals a new, unknown element which acquires the nickname 'element zero'. Testing shows that when exposed to electrical currents the material produces dark energy fields that can be used to directly manipulate gravity. Theories of how this new technique can be combined with the already mature field of electrogravitics are quick to develop. This new technique is referred to by scientists as the 'mass effect'. *August 19: The Knights Templar stage an attack of the Harvard University Arcology in Boston, the facility tasked with housing the Prothean artifacts. Unwilling to destroy the alien relics, the Knights instead rely on suicide bombers and conventional forces. The following battle leaves much of the surrounding city in ruins and the death toll is calculated at almost five hundred thousand as Templar forces storm through the city killing anyone displaying even the barest traces of augmentation. The attack ends when North American Continental Guard forces strike the Knights from six different directions, utterly annihilating them. This marks the single most devastating terrorist attack on American soil in history, far surpassing the Nine-Eleven attacks and the second most devastating in world history after the destruction of Tehran. *November: After months of extensive research into the recovered alien vessels, the first mass effect based faster than light drive is constructed. The test flight, a short hop between Luna and Mars proves beyond a shadow of a doubt the validity of the technology. However it also reveals a drawback to the technology; a continuous buildup of static electricity within the drive core that if left unattended could result in a discharge into the ship's hull, killing all aboard. Efforts to develop a way to solve this problem begin; the most promising being the creation of a static-kinetic convertor that could transform the waste energy into physical force. Despite the success of the demonstration, research into alternate forms of super-luminal propulsion, most of which involve space folding, continue with significant support from both corporations and governments. 2064 AD *February 18: After almost a year of work and several major setbacks, the restoration of the alien database is completed. While parts are deemed too damaged to ever recover, star maps detailing the local star cluster and references to a 'mass relay' in the outer Sol system prove a boon to humanity's extra-solar goals. Missing are any references as to how the Protheans arrived within the Local Cluster. *May 4: Following the data from the Mars cache, an expedition to Pluto uncovers the hidden Prothean mass relay buried beneath the surface of the moon Charon. An expedition led by Commander Jon Grissom of IASA heads through the relay, arriving in the distant Arcturus star system, thirty-six light years from Sol. Preliminary scans of Arcturus reveal three more mass relays present in the system in addition to the Sol relay. *November 23: Serrano Genomics, a minor biotechnology firm based out of Tokyo announces the release of the first tailor-made transgenic animals that serve in the roll of companion animals. Their flagship product surprises many as it is revealed that Serrano had been working for years to create real, living dragons. While smaller than their legendary counterparts and lacking the ability to breathe fire, the new creatures show a remarkable intelligence, equal to that of a dolphin and prove to be extremely friendly. Over two hundred thousand had been bred in preparation for Christmas sales, far fewer than the demand for them and within a few years it is not uncommon to see them in the skies over most major cities. 2065 AD *June 1: With the Local Cluster open to exploration and colonization, a mass exodus begins from the overcrowded Earth. Utilizing both FTL and the Charon Relay, millions emigrate to newly founded colonies orbiting Alpha and Proxima Centauri, Barnard's Star, Tau Ceti, Epsilon Eridani, Procyon, Wolf 359, Sirius, Sigma Draconis, Epsilon Indi and Arcturus. Realizing that these worlds cannot remain colonies forever and with a need to finally unite Earth under one banner, the eight permanent members of the United Nations security council; the United North American States, the European Union, the Chinese People's Federation, the Russian Federation, India, Japan, the United Korean Republic and Brazil charter a proposal for the formation of the Human Systems Alliance, a single supranational government that will exist above all the various national and colonial governments, supplanting and drastically expanding the power and influence of the United Nations. *July: While the majority of humanity is supportive of the formation of the Systems Alliance, fringe groups throughout the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia on Earth and on several of the fringe colonies both within and outside of the Sol System are violently opposed. Intelligence intercepts suggests the Knights Templar are behind more than a dozen violent riots in one week alone across human space with a death toll of over two thousand. Alliance Era (2066 AD-Present Day) 2066 AD *February 15: The signing ceremony for the Systems Alliance Constitution, held in the United Nations Headquarters in New York is interrupted by an attempted terrorist attack. Having high jacked a long haul freighter from its orbital docking slip, Templar forces attempt to crash the spacecraft into the building. The attack is foiled well short of its objective and the freighter is shot down by fighters operating out of Andrews Air Force Base. The remains of the spacecraft, the OSV Edmund Fitzgerald, come to rest on the bottom of the Hudson River. The attack having been foiled, the Human Systems Alliance is officially ratified by its member nations at 1730 Greenwich Mean Time, February 15, 2066. *August 18: The anti-synthetic hate group Blood First launches a devastating viral attack against more than a dozen popular synthetic enclaves across the net. The death toll is more than twenty thousand, both synthetic and organic. The response by international authorities, all working under the newly formed Alliance Bureau of Investigations (ABI) is devastating to the group. Within six weeks almost all members had been arrested, tried and imprisoned. Further investigations through a cooperative effort between the ABI, Interpol, Cerberus and local authorities show ties between Blood First and the Knights Templar, who had grown their hatred to include synthetics over the past decade. 2067 AD With the demand for space lift from the surface of Earth skyrocketing, the construction of the Guiana Orbital Tether begins. Built at the site of the former French spaceport in French Guiana, the facility will lift from the small nation and terminate at a space station in geosynchronous orbit. The tether project marks the single largest engineering endeavor in Earth's history, far eclipsing even Panchaea. The project will consist of two parts: the ground station and anchor which will be driven deep into the Earth's crust and the ten kilometer long Zeus Station in orbit from which the tether itself will be lowered. Supporting this effort, oven a dozen mass driver complexes are constructed around the world. 2068 AD November 6: Hex-5, a popular liberal synthetic is elected as president of the United North American States. Taking advantage of an increase in human acceptance of synthetics in the wake of the Blood First massacre two years earlier, Hex-5 coasts to an easy victory, capturing 56% of the vote. Allegations of hacking in more than 60 states across the nation are quickly disproven and the North American Supreme Court (SCONA) rules the election valid. Hex-5 will go on to serve a full two terms, easily winning reelection in 2072 due to his popular economic reform and military modernization policies as well as his support for the newly formed Systems Alliance. 2069 AD July 5: Flipper, the first dolphin gifted with sapient though is born at the Marine Research Institute in Marathon, Florida. A product of almost two decades of work, Flipper is technically classified as a transgenic, having DNA from humans grafted to his own to allow a more developed brain to form. Born on the 73rd anniversary of the birth of Dolly, the first cloned sheep, Flipper, while only possessing the mental faculties of a young child and unable to speak any human language, is considered the greatest breakthrough in genetics since the development of Symbiosis and the Illuminati's D-Project nanite-virus chimera. 2070 AD October 17: Researchers at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys announce the creation of an advanced, next generation multiferroic alloy that is able to efficiently convert massive amounts of heat into electricity. The newly formed Systems Alliance Navy takes great interest in this development as a more effective way of managing thermal buildup issues on their ships. A prototype frigate is commissioned to test the effectiveness of the new alloy, the SSV Moscow. The alloy is used to coat the insides of the ship's prototype plasma distribution network, engines, weapons and other systems that suffer from significant heat buildup while in operation. Tests prove the alloy, while not a magical cure for thermal buildup, can drastically improve time on station and duration under fire. As an unintended side effect, the Moscow proves extremely difficult to detect when not under thrust or firing her weapons, leading to research into the alloy's use for future stealth applications. 2072 AD May 12: General Dynamics announces the first generation of kinetic barrier that utilizes both mass effect and electrogravitic technologies. While conventional mass effect kinetic barriers had been available for almost five years, the new hybrid technology proves far more resilient if slightly more power intensive. In partnership with Sarif Industries, the leader in the field of electromagnetic defense field technology and Lockheed Martin, leader in compressed plasma barrier technology, the development of SHIELD, a multilayer defensive scheme that incorporates all three technologies proves to be a major hit. Both the Systems Alliance Navy and Marine Corps begins employing the new system, leading to massive increases in survivability for ships, strikecraft, vehicles and personnel. 2073 AD July 15: Development of the first prototype static-kinetic convertor is completed. This device allows the static build-up inherent to active mass effect cores to be converted into kinetic energy. This energy is in turn used to excite low energy or 'cold' plasma. As most human vessels had been shifting to a plasma energy distribution network, this new device allows for a drastically improved shipboard energy efficiency and eliminates the need for core discharges; giving starships potentially infinite FTL range, subject only to supply and fuel concerns. 2074 AD *April 8: The first anthromorph is born. Named Samantha, the child is a hybrid between a human and a feline. The child is derided by religious groups as playing god. These protests are largely ignored however as they were five years earlier with the birth of Flipper. By the end of the year more than a thousand anthromorph embryos will have been implanted in vitro to willing couples across North America, Europe and Japan. *March 29: As anthromorphs and uplifted animals become more common, challenges to their rights under the Sapient's Rights Act begin taking a major toll on their families. Although the SRA, strictly speaking, covers both anthromorphs and sapient fauna, the bill had never been written with them in mind. Efforts within the Systems Alliance Parliament to amend the bill are met with surprising resistance from more conservative members, still smarting over the passage of the original SRA and the subsequent losses in appeal attempts in the courts. Although such resistance slows passage of the bill, the final amended version is passed to the Office of the President of the Systems Alliance on May 27, just in time to be signed before parliament brakes for the June recess. *September 19: Development of the first space folding drive is completed by a group of engineers and theoretical physicists led by Tobias Fleming Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa. The first test ship, the science vessel SSV Albert Einstein makes a successful jump from Luna to Wyvern Colony in the Alpha Centauri system. The jump itself is nearly instantaneous from the point of view of the crew while nearly ten minutes pass in the rest of the universe. This temporal dilation had been predicted in simulations and deemed acceptable. A bigger concern is the impact of local gravitational fields on the drive itself. Safety concerns limit the drive to use only at points of minimal gravity such as Lagrangian points or deep space. While the potential of such a drive prompts significant interest in all sectors, the difficulty in manufacturing the drive core precludes the use of current generation universal assemblers. This in turn makes the drive extremely expensive, limiting it's use to governments, large corporations and the military. 2075 AD *February 3: The tenth anniversary of extra-solar colonization is marked by the groundbreaking of humanity's twentieth colony, Neu Berlin. To date almost fifteen mass relay pairs had been found, linking the Local Cluster together like a series of super-highways. Humanity has surveyed almost two hundred star systems and established almost a hundred other outposts above and beyond its colonial holdings. *November 16: General Atomics announces the development of a hybrid antimatter/fusion reactor. The new design introduces nanograms of antimatter, specifically anti hydrogen in a hydrogen fusion process, essentially 'spiking' the reaction. While nowhere near as powerful as a full antimatter reactor, the process increases output over a conventional 'straight' fusion process threefold. An even greater advantage is that due to the incredibly small amounts of antimatter being used, a compact integrated antimatter production module is considered practical, eliminating the need for any form of antimatter storage, traditionally a dangerous and bulky requirement. The new reactor design is quickly adopted for use in fighters, cargo ships and other small craft where a full antimatter reactor is impractical. 2076 AD *Despite the mass exodus of humanity to the colonies and the ongoing terraforming efforts on Venus, Luna, Mars, Castillo, Ganymede and Titan; Earth is rapidly approaching a total population of twenty billion. As a countermeasure to this overpopulation the construction of Freedom, Earth's first orbital colony at the L1 Lagrangian point begins. At almost fifty kilometers in length and utilizing a modified O'Neil island three design, the new station promises to be able to house a population of almost sixty million. In addition the Systems Alliance begins a colonization drive, offering significant aid and tax incentives to those who choose to emigrate off Earth. *August 18: A terrorist group attacks a military supply depot on Kyoto Colony. Referring to themselves as Friedens, the new group calls for the dismantling of the Systems Alliance and reparations for purported atrocities committed by the Alliance Military. Intelligence intercepts are quick to link the attacks to the Knights Templar. Cerberus immediately counterattacks, hunting down the group that was directly responsible for the attack in hopes of following them back to their masters. While several are captured alive, they prove unable to provide information on their parent organization due to compartmentalization. Over the next six months, seventeen nearly identical attacks will take place across the outer colonies, raising concerns of a growing general insurrection. 2077 AD *Jaunary 16: Following the terrorist strikes on the colonies, the first cases of piracy begin hitting interplanetary shipping. The Alliance Navy, still in its formative stages proves unable to halt these attacks. In response the Alliance Parliament agrees to fund a major expansion of the armed forces, nearly tripling the size of the Navy and doubling the size of the Marine Corps within three years. This expansion also calls for the integration of the various Earth state militaries into their Alliance counterparts; ending one of the last true remnants of independence the members of the Alliance retained. *August 24: With increased funding finally available, the Alliance Navy orders the development of a stealth capable frigate. The design, long held back due to budgetary and political concerns incorporates the latest in thermal management, electromagnetic passive absorption and diffraction, electronic and cyber warfare and low emission thruster technologies. The prototype, the SSV Prowler, during shakedown proves able to sneak to within ten kilometers of an Alliance destroyer before being detected. Over the next five years almost fifty Prowler-class stealth frigates will be commissioned to devastating effect on pirate and slaving outfits. 2078 AD During an expedition to the Sirius Beta system fifty nine light-years from Earth, the survey vessel SSV Christopher Columbus discovers a second Prothean facility on the planet Skepsis. Investigations by a follow-up xenoarcheology expedition reveal that the facility was at one time a secret research base tasked with development of a unique application of mass effect technology called 'biotics'. The facility had been mothballed several hundred years before the attack on the Mars facility and showed no evidence of damage. The discovery of this facility sparks a major race within the augmentation industry to provide the first implants capable of giving a person biotic abilities. 2080 AD March 4: The first fully autonomous spacecraft is commissioned. The SSV Alan Turing, a deep space exploration vessel, is designed without any accommodations for crew. Manned by a single synthetic officer, the Turing's mission will be to conduct initial survey missions on planetary systems, providing data on whether one of the larger, more resource intensive long term survey vessels should be detailed for further investigation. Over the next ten years more than three hundred Turing-class explorers will be launched, each conducting an average of forty surveys per year. 2081 AD July 12: The Frieden terrorist network stages its largest attack yet, attacking and destroying the town of New Hamburg on the colony world of Neu Berlin. The death toll is estimated at over eighty thousand and no survivors are found in the aftermath. This action prompts the Alliance to commit unprecedented levels of military force to the region. Almost fifty warships of various weights move to the vicinity of Neu Berlin, long a favorite target of the Friedens. 2083 AD October 17: Sarif Industries announces the creation of the first biosynthetic body. A combination of genetically engineered, cloned organic tissue and mechanical and nano-augmentations, the new bodies allow the transfer to a synthetic matrix into a semi-organic body, allowing synthetics to experience organic life. So advanced are the bodies that it is possible for a biosynthetic body to procreate with an organic, both human and anthromorph. 2084 AD A general insurrection begins against the Systems Alliance led by the Friedens. The first sign of this uprising is an attack against the SSV Concorde, a military patrol frigate. Posing as a crippled freighter, the Templars board and capture the Concorde, executing the crew. Intelligence from signal intercepts and several human intel sources within the network confirm the uprising is part of a Templar plan to destabilize the Alliance. 2087 AD September 5: After almost three years of undeclared war between the Systems Alliance and Friedan insurgents, the colony of Neu Berlin falls. Over the following months rumors of mass purges by the newly formed Frieden Union of augmented persons begin leaking out. An attempt by the Alliance to liberate the planet ends before it can begin when Frieden forces detonate a clean nuke in the city of New Nuremburg killing all four hundred thousand residents. Threats of similar actions should the Alliance interfere with the Friedan occupation of Neu Berlin forces an indefinite postponement of military action. 2088 AD The actions of the Friedens against captive populations and the subsequent hamstringing of the Alliance Military make clear that a doctrinal shift is required to deal with the new threat. A new Special Forces organization that combines personnel from the Navy, the Marine Corps and Cerberus is established. Known as the Systems Alliance Elite Forces Command (SAEFC) or more informally as simply the 'N' program, this top secret command will commission elite operatives to deal with problems no other military unit can handle, giving them unlimited resources to accomplish their goals. The initial group of candidates will be ready for deployment no later than the beginning of 2090. 2089 AD February 14: Researches from Mars Central University announce the creation of a new method of antimatter production. Known as flavor changing, this new technique utilizes a prototype teleportation system to disassemble matter and then, molecule by molecule, reassemble it with an inverse charge and spin. While less efficient by itself compared to the more common method of harvesting antimatter from positronic lightning or the Van Allen Belt of a planet; when multiple production lines are setup in parallel the new technique proves drastically more cost effective while also offering a higher quality product and a safer work environment. 2091 AD June 17: The first wave of SAEFC operatives successfully infiltrate the Union. Almost immediately the operatives prove their worth, providing critical intelligence. Confirmation of the atrocities being committed by the Friedens galvanizes the Alliance government and proves to be just what is needed for Parliament to authorize a new war footing, allowing a drastic increase in military spending. In addition the SAEFC operatives are successful in setting up an underground railroad for augmented persons to escape the Frieden purges. 2093 AD *October 17: Having conquered thirty six star systems across the fringes of Alliance space, the Friedens grow bolder, attacking the Alliance naval fleet node at Norfolk Colony. Unknown to the Friedens, Norfolk was playing host to a series of vessels equipped with prototype mass effect enhanced plasma cannons. The ensuing battle proves the sheer destructiveness of the new weapons which combine the thermal, electromagnetic and radiological potentials of a plasma weapon with the sheer kinetic force of a mass accelerator. After nearly two hours, the Friedan forces retreat from the battle, leaving nearly thirty destroyed or damaged vessels behind for only six Alliance warship casualties. *December 14: With the attack at Norfolk repelled, the Systems Alliance attempts once again to open peace negotiations with the Templar led Frieden Union. The diplomatic transport SSV Crystal Dove departs Norfolk for Neu Berlin carrying a delegation from the State Department and broadcasting a diplomatic IFF. All contact with the transport is lost five days into transit. Alliance Intelligence believes the transport was destroyed by a special paramilitary unit under direct Templar control. While several other diplomatic entreaties are made over the next six months, all are ignored by the Friedens; sundering any thoughts of a negotiated settlement. 2094 AD While the Friedens make several probing attacks on the Alliance, there are no further attacks on Alliance worlds. Both sides begin a military buildup along the border and settle in for a long cold war. 2096 AD February 7: The first of the Alliance Navy's Ticonderoga-class cruisers enters service. The new warship, the first of the fourth generation warship designs incorporates advancements in weapons technology, most notably the newly developed mass effect plasma bolters. At almost seven hundred meters in length and capable of carrying a full wing of fighters and several times that in unmanned combat microships, the SSV Ticonderoga and her sisters will become the backbone of the Alliance Navy and the nightmare of many Frieden captains for years to come. 2098 AD August 27: With the success of the Ticonderoga and the rising threat of the Friedens, the Alliance Navy commissions its first dreadnought, the SSV Kirov. Two and a half kilometers in length and built around the most powerful mass accelerator cannon ever developed, the Kirov and her sisters will become a bulwark against the Frieden Navy. The Kirov-class is followed by the launch of numerous other fourth generation warships such as the Intrepid-class frigate, the Turbulent-class destroyer, the Acropolis-class strike carrier, the Ikazuchi-class battleship and the Kitty Hawk-class fleet carrier. 2100 AD January 1: The population of the Local Cluster, counting both organics and synthetics is estimated to be over one hundred billion. Advances in medical science have almost completely eliminated disease and with the easing of traditional limitations on population growth such as the availability of food, water and shelter, the human race is quickly expanding across the stars. The further popularization of artificial wombs, rejuvenation treatments and tax subsidies for large families has led to a sustained annual growth rate of almost 3.2% and the average lifespan sits at approximately 138 years. 2101 AD Seeing the Frieden Union's independence as an opportunity, twenty seven other colonies secede from the Alliance. Many of these are so-called 'stepback' colonies, places where people can return to an era before technology became so pervasive. The Alliance Parliament agrees to allow these colonies to leave but make clear that any threats to Alliance security will not be tolerated. Nineteen of the seceding colonies sign the Montreal Accords, limiting the number of capital class warships they can field and allowing the Alliance to setup military facilities in their systems in times of war in exchange for continuing Alliance military protection, humanitarian aid and trade ties. 2102 AD *October 18: A disagreement between an Alliance patrol vessel and its Frieden counterpart along the border escalates into one of the largest naval engagements yet seen between the two powers. Over a hundred warships on both sides are either crippled or destroyed in the ensuring firefight. The battle ends with a Frieden retreat as the technological superiority of the Alliance allows them to engage at greater range and with greater force. In response to the battle, the Frieden Union officially declares war on the Systems Alliance. *October 23: While an official declaration of war surprised the Alliance, almost a decade of preparation meant they were more than ready. Over the next three months, nineteen separate engagements would be fought between Alliance and Union forces, all but six of which would result in Alliance victories. 2103 AD *February 23: Having gained control of the local space, the Alliance begins landing operations on the small world. Attempts by local Frieden forces to enact scorched earth protocols are unsuccessful as SAEFC operatives are successful in disabling all twenty-seven nuclear charges emplaced in population centers across the planet of fifty-nine million. *April 7: After almost fourteen months of fighting the last of the Frieden forces on New Marseille surrender. The final casualty figures are nearly five hundred thousand Frieden, ninety-eight thousand Alliance and nearly nine hundred thousand civilian, mostly killed by retreating Frieden forces. *August: Alliance Forces besiege the Denver System. The system is home to a minor colony of sixteen million and three mining outposts, one of which is supplying uranium to the Friedens; a vital strategic resource and therefore heavily guarded. The ensuing battle will last for the next twenty six months and will result in more than one point six million casualties. *December 18: Friedan forces attack the Alliance colony of Achilles in the Sigma 23 system. Unprepared for the attack, the colony is overrun and destroyed. Of the population of twelve million, less than three hundred thousand will live to see the planet's liberation four months later. 2104 AD *March 15: Cerberus units capture a secret Frieden bioweapons facility in the Devon system. Among the most concerning projects found is the development of a programmable radioactive biogenic agent. Samples of the projects are taken and its database is copied before the facility is destroyed. Frieden forces tasked to investigate the outpost's silence arrive six days later to find it destroyed with no survivors. *November 9: Alliance forces attack the Sigma 47 system. While there are no colonies present, several mining outposts are present that provide the Frieden forces with titanium and iridium, both of which are critical in warship construction. The Alliance commander gives the miners two hours to evacuate and then orders the destruction of all facilities. 2105 AD *March 12: After a five month calm that saw only minor engagements, the Alliance launches an attack on the Yorkshire system, home to New Leeds colony. With a population of almost eight hundred million, New Leeds is the fourth largest colony in the Frieden Union and as such is heavily defended. It will take the Alliance nearly four months before achieving control of the planet's orbit. *August 13: Having finally secured the Yorkshire system, the Alliance forces begin landing operations. These come to a halt with the destruction of the troopship SSV Abdel Fattah A'sisi outside the city of Elizabeth. SAEFC operatives had been unsuccessful in deactivating the nuclear device in the city and the detonation incinerated the population and landing forces. Final casualty numbers were estimated at nearly one point two million. *August 19: Following the Elizabeth Massacre, landing operations resume. While no further scorched earth detonations will take place, the liberation of New Leeds would take nearly three years and cost almost ten million lives. 2106 AD March 2106 – July 2107: With Alliance Forces focused on the liberation of New Leeds, Frieden High Command began a series of raiding attacks on Alliance border worlds. These attacks are designed to keep the Alliance off balance while Union forces undergo repairs and new warships are commissioned. 2107 AD *July 28: A fleet of nearly two hundred Frieden warships launches a counterattack on the Alliance forces stationed in the Yorkshire System. After almost three days of continuous engagement, the outnumbered and exhausted Alliance Naval forces are forced to retreat, ceding orbital supremacy to the Union. Evacuations of Alliance Forces are conducted as quickly as possible but nearly twenty thousand Marines are left stranded on the surface. Knowing they would be vulnerable to orbital bombardment if they stayed in their bases, the forces disband, disappearing into the wilderness or the cities of New Leeds with as much equipment as they can carry; destroying the rest. Over the next year these forces will form the backbone of an insurgency that will make the colony nearly ungovernable. *August: Having been forced back to their beachhead in the Denver system, the Alliance begins planning for their return to New Leeds. As part of this plan, wolf packs of Alliance frigates and destroyers begin launching commerce raiding operations on supplies to Yorkshire and the surrounding systems. Nearly two hundred convoys are engaged and destroyed over the next fourteen months leading to a crippling lack of supplies for the Frieden forces in the region. These actions unfortunately also have the unintended consequence of increasing the suffering of the local populations as food and other vital supplies are seized by the Frieden military. 2108 AD *October 19: Elements of the Alliance Third, Fourth and Sixth fleets begin a grand offensive against the Yorkshire sector. Nearly six hundred warships including twelve Kirov-class dreadnoughts sweep through the region, capturing twelve star systems and encircling Yorkshire. All Frieden Naval forces in the Yorkshire system are defeated or escape twelve hours after the first engagement. *October 21: Reinforcements begin landing on New Leeds. By the end of the month nearly two hundred thousand Marines and their equipment will have landed. Facing them are nearly a million Frieden soldiers. Linking up with their comrades left behind almost a year earlier, marine forces begin a systematic sweep of the colony. While there is no official surrender, the last major pocket of resistance is eliminated six months after the landing. 2109 AD *April 13: The loss of the Norfolk Sector Command brings the Alliance offensive to a screeching halt. All operations by both the Alliance Navy and Marine Corps are placed on indefinite halt while recovery operations begin. *April 14: The loss of the Norfolk Sector Command brings the Alliance offensive to a screeching halt. All operations by both the Alliance Navy and Marine Corps are placed on indefinite halt while recovery operations begin. *May 8: The Friedens take advantage of their strike, invading the Alliance colony of Argon Prime. With a population of nearly twenty million, the colony's defenses were stripped of ships to provide forces for the grand offensive and liberation of New Leeds with the acknowledgement that any counteroffensive could be countered in time to prevent such an invasion. With the loss of Norfolk and the strategic planners therein, no such counter took place. *June 11: Frieden forces destroy the Alliance mining outposts in the Tau 13 System. *June 23: Frieden forces capture the Alliance research facility in the Sigma 8 System. *August 11: After nearly four months, Alliance High Command assigns replacements for the lost commanders at Norfolk. With the facilities on the colony destroyed, the Alliance flag command will operate off the carrier SSV Raymond A. Spruance until such time as a replacement facility can be built. *November 7: Having finally recovered from the April 13th attack, Alliance Forces launch an attack on the Milan system. While lacking any colonies, Milan is home to a secondary mass relay that leads to a system less than three light years from Neu Berlin. Frieden forces are quick to counter, beginning a standoff that will last until the end of the war. 2110 AD *March 17: With their main offensive bottled up in the Milan system, elements of the Alliance Second Fleet move to liberate Argon Prime. Outnumbered nearly two-to-one, the Frieden forces choose to fight to the death. Near the end of the battle, the Frieden command ship launches a nuclear missile at the capitol, killing all three million inhabitants and nearly ten thousand Frieden soldiers. *April 12: The loss of Argon Prime's capitol and the slaughter of the population enrages the Alliance. Elements of the First Fleet, normally assigned to guard the core worlds around Sol are detailed to the front line. Among the best trained and equipped, the newly arrived forces cut a swath through the Frieden forces in the Sicily system. Their victory is tempered by the failure of SAEFC operatives in disabling three of the nuclear devices on Verona Colony. Twelve million people are killed. *September: With the assault on the Milan system stalled, the Alliance begins a separate push against the Sparta System. Far from the front lines, Sparta lies on the edge of both Alliance and Frieden territory, far from the core worlds and Neu Berlin. With little population and minimal strategic resources, Frieden High Command is slow to react to the newly opening front. By the time forces arrive to counter the Alliance assault, the Sparta system had been captured and several nearby outposts destroyed. *October 2110 – July 2112: For nearly two years both Alliance and Frieden forces enter a holding pattern. With the exception of the Milan System, no major battles will take place. The Alliance, burdened with the continuing Frieden insurgency on New Leeds and the garrisoning and fortification of captured territories as well as its own border colonies is beginning to reach its limit. The Friedens are likewise, fighting a war on two fronts and unable to advance. 2112 AD *August 13: Alliance forces launch a probing attack on the Athens System, a near neighbor of Sparta. The attack proves costly as the Frieden forces employ ships with their own version of the Alliance mass effect plasma bolter. Facing new weapons, Alliance Forces reinforce their lines and prepare for the onslaught of newly armed enemy ships. *November 1: The predicted enemy offensive fails to materialize. While the occasional Frieden ship armed with advanced weaponry is encountered, there is very little evidence of a wide deployment of new weaponry among Frieden forces. 2113 AD *April 21: The Alliance command ship in the Milan system is contacted by its Friedan counterpart. While initially suspicious, the Alliance commander of the Milan Theater, Major Jason Caldwell is surprised at the proposal of a ceasefire by Captain Joseph Olegovich Andropov. Both sides agree to stand down their forces at 1745 Zulu. *April 22: Under the guns of both fleets, the Alliance Command Dreadnought SSV Midway and the Frieden command carrier FUV Heinrich meet at a point at the exact center of the battlefield. Over the next six hours the two admirals agree to a succession of hostilities. One hour later all Alliance vessels depart the Milan system for New Leeds while all Friedan forces withdraw from Alliance territory. *June: With the war over both sides begin recovery operations. The Friedan Union had lost nearly a quarter of its territory and almost half its military. The Alliance was worse off however, having to care for hundreds of millions of people on the liberated colonies, a significant number of which had lost everything in the fighting. While a ceasefire had been called, insurgents continued to plague the colonies of New Leads, Denver and New Marseille. The final casualty totals are almost one point two million Alliance military and almost one hundred and ten million civilian. 2114 AD With the war drawing down, resources formerly being spent fighting are returned to peacetime initiatives. The most obvious beneficiary of this reallocation is the Sol terraforming projects. The final components of the Mars and Luna projects are completed and Venus sees the completion of its final sets of atmospheric processors. 2115 AD April 11: Researchers at the California Institute of Technology announce the development of graviton projector, a device that can compensate for local gravity conditions as a prelude to a fold event. The first major breakthrough since the development of the fold drive forty years earlier, the new technology promises to drastically expand the flexibility of the fold drive. Combined with advances in universal assembler technology that allow a fold drive to be constructed without labor intensive manufacturing processes, the fold drive begins to significantly threaten the market share of more conventional mass effect FTL drive designs. 2116 AD January 2: With Earth's ever growing population, construction of Niven, a small ring world begins at the L3 Lagrangian point. With a diameter of nearly three hundred kilometers and massive enough to have an atmosphere clinging to the interior surface, the new orbital colony will have an internal surface area of roughly seven thousand kilometers squared. Moreover, unlike previous orbital colonies the ring will be nearly a kilometer and a half thick, allowing for between four hundred and four hundred fifty 'underground' levels depending on surface geography. Utilizing state of the art life support systems, Niven will be able to support a population of over two hundred and fifty million; nearly four times that of any previous orbital colony. Construction is scheduled to take four years. 2118 AD *February 12: The Turing-class explorer SSV Ada Lovelace arrives in system LC-12442. While conducting its initial survey, a large concentration of element zero is detected, leading to the discovery of another mass relay. With almost seventy percent of the local cluster having been surveyed at this point, it is expected that the discovery of this relay will be one of the last. A follow up expedition by the survey vessel SSV Seeker attempts to activate the relay, unsuccessfully. Data acquired from the unresponsive relay provides coordinates for its partner and another Turing-class is diverted to the location. Upon arrival the SSV Gordon Moore reports the system destroyed; its sun having gone supernova an estimated thirty thousand years earlier and taken the partner relay with it. *March 16: The discovery of an unpaired relay whips the Alliance scientific community into a frenzy. Previous proposals for studies of the relays had always been rejected for fear of damaging the irreplaceable artifacts. The newly discovered relay, already having been named 'Orphan' by the survey teams, neatly got around this problem. Realizing the potential technologies that study of the relay could reveal the Alliance Parliament authorizes a large scale research mission. Sixteen vessels led by the Einstein-class SSV Marie Curie depart for the relay. Follow up plans call for the construction of a permanent research station to further the study. Alliance High Command orders a detachment of warships to lockdown the system. 2119 AD August 14: The atmospheric processors on Venus complete their work, having converted the toxic carbon-dioxide atmosphere into a breathable oxygen/nitrogen mixture. While technically habitable, Venus still has a long way to go before it is considered ready for colonization. Soil processing is given top priority due the toxins still present. 2120 AD November 7: Alliance weapons researchers finish development of a meson based particle cannon. Extremely bulky and fragile, the new cannon is never the less considered a major breakthrough in particle weaponry. Due to the unique nature of mesons, consisting of a quark/anti-quark pair, a weapon utilizing the artificially generated particles has the potential to be an order of magnitude more powerful than any conventional neutron or proton cannon in service. The prototype weapon is incorporated in the experimental dreadnought SSV Zeus, first of the Kirov II-class. 2121 AD After almost three years of failures, the Orphan Project finally succeeds in breaching the hull of the relay using a series of controlled nanite detonations. First impressions of the interior of the relay seem to confirm that the relays were not constructed by the Protheans; the technology and even internal architecture varying widely from known Prothean designs. This is further confirmed after several tests date the Orphan relay as being more than thirty million years old, far predating the rise of the Prothean Empire or even the evolution of the Prothean species. Researchers begin referring to the relay builders as the 'Progenitors'. 2122 AD *July 23: The encryption blocking access to Orphan's control network is broken. Analysis of the operating system reveals two distinct sets of programming running at the same time, one on top of the other. The more extensive 'base' operating system responsible for the operation of the relay is discovered to have been subverted by a more advanced, secondary set of code. An experimental simulation of a relay projection without this secondary system shows that the relays are far more powerful and capable than previously thought. Transit drift is cut to nearly nothing, mass limitations are drastically revised upwards and the relays are even able to provide sensor telemetry on the destination coordinates, eliminating the need to 'jump blind'. A question emerges from this discovery: for what purpose were the relays crippled to such a degree? *September 13: A survey of Orphan's communications array reveals a secondary communications link to an unknown location. Analysis of the relay's coding confirms the link could theoretically allow control of the relay to be overridden from a remote location. Efforts to locate this remote location begin. *December 19: Decryption of Orphan's command codes is completed, allowing Alliance researchers to access any relay they choose. The New Beijing/Solaris relay pair is modified to utilize only the original operating system as an experiment. The result is a radically increased efficiency of transit. Within four months all twenty six Alliance controlled relay pairs will have been modified to incorporate the improved operating system. In addition all remote access to the modified relays is disabled, preventing a potentially hostile power from crippling the Alliance's transport infrastructure in a time of war. 2123 AD *